Family Room Update

We've been so busy with finishing up the Media Room, that I neglected to mention the other new couch we bought... this one for the Family Room.

Then I realized that it's been quite a while since I've posted full room photos here (when I spruced up the built-in shelves, I never got around to taking a wide shot!)

So, I figured now's a good time for that...

From front left corner of room

From front right corner of room (behind the piano)

From back left corner of room (by back door)

The green loveseat & chair are on their way out... I'm just looking for the right thing to replace them.   I thought about getting the loveseat to match the new couch, but I'm going for more of a "lodge" look in here and I think that'll be to "matchy-matchy".  I'm leaning towards getting two chairs- but haven't found ones I LOVE yet.

From back right corner of room

The other update will be the coffee table.  While I love the storage that the leather ottoman-style table gives, it's too low for the new couch.  I plan to move this up to the media room (which will give us extra movie/game storage space up there) and get a new table in here.  Again, just haven't found the "right one" yet.

We're also thinking about getting a new rug in here.  The moss green one was from the old house, and while not terrible, I'm thinking we could get a larger & more impactful rug in here.  We'll see!

I remember thinking this room was just OK when we viewed the photos of it online during house hunting. Here's a photo that's similar to what we saw then...

It was taken from the foyer doorway, but the angle doesn't give a true feeling for the depth or width of the room.  When we actually toured the house and saw this room, we fell in love with it!

Just for the heck of it, I took a new picture from the same angle...

Anyways, we're going for a cozy look & feel (especially when the fire's going in the fireplace!)
There are little nooks in the corners of the room... so even if we're not all watching the same TV show, we all tend to hang out in here together.

The nearby radiator makes this seat
one of the warmest in the room!

Chair is on the way out, but is so comfy
for curling up to read at night.

Corner Cabinet & chaise lounge.
Not usually used for lounging...
more often is my laundry folding station!

The piano,
which doesn't get nearly enough use!

Quick Project- candle holder

A really quick project that I completed a while ago but never posted about...
I wanted to add more yellow accents in the family room, to go with the backs of the built in shelving.

Here's what I started with...

It was cute as is, but the off-white color just didn't pop.

Luckily, I had some yellow spray paint left over from making a big yellow sombrero for my son's Curious George party a few years back.


After a couple of light & even coats, we now have this...

It's sitting on the piano with a little votive candle in it.
It's a small little update, but a happy one :)

Media Room- Before & After

This room has come a LONG way!

Here are the Before & After photos...

From the Doorway:

From the Left Corner of the room: 

From the Right Corner of the room: 

There have been a bunch of posts as we've finished this space:

Before/Start of project

New Windows installed

Electric to do list and work done

Radiator re-installed

Ripping down attic hallway ceiling

Insulation
Drywall
White washing beams
moldings and more
Painting
Flooring
Under the Eaves
Window Safety
Curtains
Decor

As I mentioned earlier in the week, there are still some items up in the air:

Here it's set up with
"Vader-ade" & "Luke SkyWater"
for my son's Star Wars birthday party

-put mini fridge & microwave up here?  - We brough our wine fridge up here, since we weren't using it downstairs.  It's located in the right corner of the room (but can't be seen in the wide shot from the doorway because the couch is in the way)

-put the mini combo foosball/hockey/pool table up here, and maybe a desk for doing homework? - you can see we've added the foosball table (photos above).  Will have to see about a desk, since this is the same wall I thought we'd put it on.

-add a bookshelf or armoire?  I'd like to put some of the board games up here (the linen closet may also work well for this since it's right outside the door of this room).

-bring leather coffee table from downstairs living room up here? 

-Pull the couch out into the room a couple of feet (it would still be a good viewing distance from the TV), and put a console table and two bar stools behind the couch.  I think it would be perfect for the kids to sit back there while eating, or whatever.  We're debating this one!

Media Room Decor

We still have some finishing touches to make on the Media Room, but here's where we landed with the major purchases...

Rug-
Mike & I both fell in love with this rug when we saw it on Joss & Main.  I was thrilled that we agreed on it so quickly!  We went ahead and got the largest size- 8'9"x12', which still allows for a nice area of wood flooring to show around the outside of the room.

We also picked up rug pads, which we still need to cut/patch to the right size 

(one wasn't big enough).

Next up was the TV & stand...
We got the TV during a Black Friday deal at Best Buy.
The stand is from IKEA- so we had to put it together ourselves.  We picked it because it met our solid wood requirement, was just the right height for the wall and width for the TV, and was a good price.

I like that it has two drawers for storage of movies and games.  I moved the navy blue storage boxes here from the kids' bedroom closets... they are perfect for holding the remotes & gaming accessories.

The couch was ordered and arrived right around Christmas- so I'm glad to finally have all the boxes out of the downstairs living room!

We purchased it through Wayfair.  I was a little nervous since I had never ordered from them before, but I was really pleased with everything.  We chose a sectional covered in a microfiber material because it's soft, but has good wearability (a big must since it's going to mostly be used by the two boys!)

You can tell our cat is loving it! 

The lighting was a bit more of a pain...
We first picked out these globes for the pendant lights:

But the openings at the top were too large.

So, we returned them and ended up with these:

Light off

Light on

But our lighting issues didn't end there... the electrician hung the fan, but the light's globe cracked as he was fastening it.  So... he's coming back with the replacement for that.

Here's a shot of the lighting while I was standing on a ladder.  

There is a pendant on each side of the fan.

I love the exposed brick you can see from this view!

We don't have doors for the undereave storage yet (Mike is hoping to build them this spring).  For a temporary fix, I fastened curtain rods (that I already had) on the insides of the doorways, and hung black curtains that I found on clearance at Walmart.  Not bad for a short-term solution.

You can see we also installed the outlet covers (and the light switch plate)

Here are the items that we need to finish up...
-finish painting the base moldings (one more coat to go!)
-the globe for the fan light mentioned above.
-door saddle
-door- needs to be shaved down a touch so it won't scratch the hardwood floors.  Then it needs a second coat of paint.  I'm working on cleaning up the hardware now.
-hang wall art. We have a few items that we know we want up here, but I want to get the rest of the furniture items listed below settled before putting holes in the walls!

Things we are considering...
-put mini fridge & microwave up here?  I'm finding it's a huge pain to go down all those steps to the kitchen on the first floor!
-put the mini combo foosball/hockey/pool table up here, and/or maybe a desk for doing homework?
-add a bookshelf or armoire?  I'd like to put some of the board games up here (the linen closet may also work well for this since it's right outside the door of this room).
-bring leather coffee table from downstairs living room up here?
-Pull the couch out into the room a couple of feet (it would still be a good viewing distance from the TV), and put a console table and two bar stools behind the couch.  I think it would be perfect for the kids to sit back there while eating, or whatever.  We're debating this one!

Media Room Curtains

Since we were just talking windows... you may have noticed that we added curtains!

Just a simple gray that we picked up at Bed Bath & Beyond.















The curtain rod is a basic black that curves to the wall, allowing for great black out (for movie watching).


I still need to hem them... and will get around to that sooner or later!

Ooo- you can also see in this bottom photo that Mike has almost finished the base moldings!
Last weekend we were at a stand-still on the projects while I frantically got the house ready for a certain 9 year old's StarWars sleepover party!  That's why there hasn't been any before/after shot of the room yet- it's all decked out with Jedi-related decorations!

Media Room- Window Safety

The media room is on the third floor, and the windows are quite low to the floor...

I've been having nightmares that the boys will begin wrestling and fall into (and through) the windows.

We quickly decided that for piece of mind we should install window guards on both windows.

Here are the ones we picked:

We selected them for their size (wanted it to be large enough to secure the entire bottom of the window) and also for their emergency open feature.  (Another one of my fears is a house fire).

Mike installed them last weekend, and although they aren't pretty- I feel much better having them!

Window Guard Closed

We showed the boys how to open them by removing the black "key", then pulling the guard up & toward them... stressing this is only to be done in an emergency.

Window Guard swings open for emergencies

I also put one of those emergency window ladders in the storage area right next to the window, and made sure the kids knew how to operate that as well.

Now that our big safety concerns have been addressed, we can rest a little easier when the boys are playing up there.

Icicles

The winter storms just keep coming!

I looked out the window the other day and saw this...

HUGE icicles hanging from the front gutters of the house.

I'd guess they were 3-5 feet long!

They're pretty, but surely not good for the gutters- or the front porch roof if they fall!

Mike took a broom stick, opened the 2nd floor windows & knocked them all down.

I do wish I got a photo of the front of the house (from the outside) with them!

But it was cold... I don't like the cold... at all!

But with the rate of snow & ice that's been coming down this week, I may have another chance soon!

Behind the Scenes... er... Eaves

We're wrapping up the media room project, and I hope to have a Before/After post ready soon, but in the meantime, here's a peek behind the knee walls.

We had the electrician install lights back there, so we could easily see the labels on the storage tubs.

The light switches for these are right inside the doors on each side.  

I've also typed up a quick reference list to which tubs are on each side.  This will hang under the light switch.

The lights were ones we picked up at Home Depot.  We didn't need anything fancy.

You can also see the outlet that we installed back here- that's for the TV & it's components/accessories.

Here's the front where the cables enter the wall...

Don't mind the debris on the floor- this was right after
Mike cut the opening.

We picked up the little cover/access port at Home Depot or Lowes (after so many trips to each, I forget where we ended up finding this!)

Here it is again from the back, this time with the surge protector all hooked up:

We also re-routed the cable from the DirecTV dish through the eaves- the guy was so happy it was already run when he came to install the new receiver.  

Certainly made for a faster install!

I like that everything is hidden back behind the wall- no more bunches of wires collecting dust under the TV console!